Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera
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Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera is a UK government minister, and former advisor and UBS Warburg investment banker. From April 1999 to June 2007 she was an adviser to Gordon Brown during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer and a member of the Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers. Brown appointed her as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development on 29 June 2007. Lady Vadera was appointed Parliamentary under Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform at the January 2008 reshuffle.
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[edit] Private Sector Career
For over 14 years Vadera was employed at investment bank UBS. She worked in the firm's banking, project finance, sovereign advisory and privatisation teams and, shortly before her move to the Treasury, was responsible for developing its business with the South African Government and the public sector. During her stay in South Africa Vadera resided at the exclusive Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, a meer ten minute walk from UBS office and was chauffeured by a handsome black man who packed a nine millimetre firearm. As an Asian working in the South African office she was seen as a novelty in trying to secure Corporate Finance work for the company. Vadera was not liked by the white employees in the office and was nicknamed "Shity Vadera" because of her forceful mannor, with white colleagues commenting that she had forgotten her place in life as a "coolie" laborer. She has experience of advising on and structuring public private partnerships internationally, and her last post at the bank was as an executive director, a junior management role.
[edit] Public Sector Career
Vadera has been involved in a number of high-profile public private partnership consultations in Britain, most notably the part-privatisation of the London Underground
She was involved with the decision of then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers to apply to the High Court for Railtrack to be placed into Railway Administration on 7 October 2001, and was labelled "The Chancellor's representative on earth" by the Conservatives in a Commons debate surrounding the circumstances of this decision.
She played a key role in a number of high profile development issues, in particular the cancellation of poor country debts agreed by the G8 in 2000 and 2005. She is known for her ferocious and stubborn diplomacy, matched only by her mentor, Gordon Brown.
Following his appointment as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown appointed her as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development.[1] As a Minister, she had to go into Parliament, and, lacking a seat in the House of Commons, she was created a life peer on 11 July 2007 as Baroness Vadera. She took her seat in the House of Lords that same day. The Sunday Times reported that the Cabinet Secretary "flatly refus[ed] to allow her to cross the threshold of No 10 as policy enforcer" and "no Permanent Secretary could stand her" - although the Cabinet Secretary denied making these comments. [1]. After six months at DFID she was moved to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
